cmon bred! You know we got 5 picks not 3, and dont tell me two are 7th rounders so they dont count, as BB seems to do well on late picks and UDFA's. And although I wanted Grimes also, not at 5.5 mil!!! How do you think that would have gone over with Talib? I would like to see Abraham signed, as I think he is exactly what we need, at the right price. I wouldnt over pay for a 35 yo. There are still two more important phases of the offseason, the draft, then all the training camp cuts. No matter what happens I still feel like the AFC CHampionship is New England Vs Denver, the question is who will have homefield?!

53 men make a team not one old DE and an IR DB. Could they be of help it would depend on their health and how much they have in the tank.An achiles tear is a tough one for a DB too recover from and as far as signing either is concerned they are both asking for the moon 5.5 for Grimes in his prime would be pushing the envelope and who knows what Abraham thinks he's worth! Freeney thinks he's still a top dollar DE I guess those 2 sacks and 12 tackles for the season were just a statistcal mirage!!!!

cmon bred! You know we got 5 picks not 3, and dont tell me two are 7th rounders so they dont count, as BB seems to do well on late picks and UDFA's. And although I wanted Grimes also, not at 5.5 mil!!! How do you think that would have gone over with Talib? I would like to see Abraham signed, as I think he is exactly what we need, at the right price. I wouldnt over pay for a 35 yo. There are still two more important phases of the offseason, the draft, then all the training camp cuts. No matter what happens I still feel like the AFC CHampionship is New England Vs Denver, the question is who will have homefield?!

quag, you may be right, but who will win that game.

we have 5, only 3 matter to me. 5 mil is peanuts and is not overpaying fro a very good cb.

since when did bb care about feelings. if he cared about talibs feeligns he would have given him a big multi year deal for 8-10 mil per year. talib is lucky to have a job and 5 mil. notice no one else paid him.

re you abraham comment. your not ok overpaying by a mil or 2 for a player that can make a difference, but bb is comfortable paynig 6 mil for a guy i knew was washed up (in ocho) and payign double what the jets offered ellis (4 mil), another player who had little left.

opinon registered, we disagree.

i stand by my statement, gettign abrahma signed when he was here and adding grimes, both do-able wiht the money we have, would have made our team much better and set us up for needs and bpa in draft.

53 men make a team not one old DE and an IR DB. Could they be of help it would depend on their health and how much they have in the tank.An achiles tear is a tough one for a DB too recover from and as far as signing either is concerned they are both asking for the moon 5.5 for Grimes in his prime would be pushing the envelope and who knows what Abraham thinks he's worth! Freeney thinks he's still a top dollar DE I guess those 2 sacks and 12 tackles for the season were just a statistcal mirage!!!!

i didnt mention freeney. im sure abraaham is looking for top $ and maybe bb still wants to add him. but we can afford to overpay by a mil or 2 and i would have easily let arrington walk (instead of overpaying him) and gotten top tier players.

5.5 mil push the envolope, analysts are calling it a steal for a top performing cb like grimes.

Apart from the technique and size issues already mentioned it is easy to call it a mistake when you don't have a cap and other needs to fill. I think we could use more depth at cb but Grimes at 5.5 mil is not the answer IMO.

cmon bred! You know we got 5 picks not 3, and dont tell me two are 7th rounders so they dont count, as BB seems to do well on late picks and UDFA's. And although I wanted Grimes also, not at 5.5 mil!!! How do you think that would have gone over with Talib? I would like to see Abraham signed, as I think he is exactly what we need, at the right price. I wouldnt over pay for a 35 yo. There are still two more important phases of the offseason, the draft, then all the training camp cuts. No matter what happens I still feel like the AFC CHampionship is New England Vs Denver, the question is who will have homefield?!

We should spend every last dime so we have no money left to sign the rookies...

..really guys, if you can't do the math in your head use your fingers. Abraham is still unsigned right? We don't need another high priced corner, we need people that can back up Talib, Dennard and Arrington. Remember without Sterling Moore, you don't even go to the Super Bowl in 2011.

We should spend every last dime so we have no money left to sign the rookies...

..really guys, if you can't do the math in your head use your fingers. Abraham is still unsigned right? We don't need another high priced corner, we need people that can back up Talib, Dennard and Arrington. Remember without Sterling Moore, you don't even go to the Super Bowl in 2011.

Wozzy they still have tons of cap space. Last count they have somewhere between $12-15mil left. With their currently alloted picks they only need ~$3.5mil to sign them. Even if they carry their average $5mil into camp like they usually do they still have $4-7mil left to play with. That is a ton of cash to sign additionally players. Having another starting caliber corner (which btw the prices for corners this year was drastically lower then previous years) would be an asset they could afford and still have enough to sign Abraham and still have enough to have their usual $5mil slush fund and sign the rooks. In the current league you need 3 starting caliber CB's at bare mnimum. We have 2.75 (Dennard only has 1 year under his belt and Arrington is a star only CB). Having that additional CB would be a huge benefit. Now they could grab one via draft, which I'm all in favor for, but with only 3 picks in the top 3 and needs along the DL, WR, and a pass rusher there is no gaurantee the Pats will hit on all 3. Why not hedge your bets since you have the capital and add quality depth instead of a Moore (btw if Moore was such quality why isn't he on the team currently?)

WHo knows grimes best and what he is worth? Atlanta? Did they sign him? I know nothing of Atalantas cap space or if they could afford him or make restructures to afford him etc.

...but I have also read a number of articles that stated that in addition to having absolutely no idea how he would be returning from the achilles injury that he is considered by some to potentially be a one year wonder. Stating that he really only had one great season and the others were avg.

I persoanlly have no idea as I do not follow other teams but I have no problem wih the Patriots not going after him as a let's see what happens thing. I would rather NOT pay more than what we gave Talib for a have no idea how healthy or good he will play CB.

WHo knows grimes best and what he is worth? Atlanta? Did they sign him? I know nothing of Atalantas cap space or if they could afford him or make restructures to afford him etc.

...but I have also read a number of articles that stated that in addition to having absolutely no idea how he would be returning from the achilles injury that he is considered by some to potentially be a one year wonder. Stating that he really only had one great season and the others were avg.

I persoanlly have no idea as I do not follow other teams but I have no problem wih the Patriots not going after him as a let's see what happens thing. I would rather NOT pay more than what we gave Talib for a have no idea how healthy or good he will play CB.

Using that logic we are in trouble signing Jones, Amendola, Jenkins, Washington, and Wilson

cmon bred! You know we got 5 picks not 3, and dont tell me two are 7th rounders so they dont count, as BB seems to do well on late picks and UDFA's. And although I wanted Grimes also, not at 5.5 mil!!! How do you think that would have gone over with Talib? I would like to see Abraham signed, as I think he is exactly what we need, at the right price. I wouldnt over pay for a 35 yo. There are still two more important phases of the offseason, the draft, then all the training camp cuts. No matter what happens I still feel like the AFC CHampionship is New England Vs Denver, the question is who will have homefield?!

quag, you may be right, but who will win that game.

we have 5, only 3 matter to me. 5 mil is peanuts and is not overpaying fro a very good cb.

since when did bb care about feelings. if he cared about talibs feeligns he would have given him a big multi year deal for 8-10 mil per year. talib is lucky to have a job and 5 mil. notice no one else paid him.

re you abraham comment. your not ok overpaying by a mil or 2 for a player that can make a difference, but bb is comfortable paynig 6 mil for a guy i knew was washed up (in ocho) and payign double what the jets offered ellis (4 mil), another player who had little left.

opinon registered, we disagree.

i stand by my statement, gettign abrahma signed when he was here and adding grimes, both do-able wiht the money we have, would have made our team much better and set us up for needs and bpa in draft.

I guess, once again, because BB has not followed the model that many on this forum advocate his plan is deficient. I'm therefore compelled to pose the question:

What is BB's master plan, if you please?

If by the start of the regular season he's not staffed the 53-man roster adequately (and even then it may be too soon to judge) then perhaps the word 'mistake' applies. Until then all of this, without exception, is speculation and anticipatory second-guessing.

I guess, once again, because BB has not followed the model that many on this forum advocate his plan is deficient. I'm therefore compelled to pose the question:

What is BB's master plan, if you please?

If by the start of the regular season he's not staffed the 53-man roster adequately (and even then it may be too soon to judge) then perhaps the word 'mistake' applies. Until then all of this, without exception, is speculation and anticipatory second-guessing.

This is completely true. I'm only making assumptions based on previous years where the same pattern has followed such as last year, bringing in aging vets and injury risk players and lower cost options to compete in camp where in the end a vast majority washed out or were ineffective. Or the previous year where we saw similar things happening bringing in guys with known injury problems that performed well initially until the injury issues caught up (Carter) or guys that were lower cost high reward vets for short term band-aids that didn't work out, though Waters was a great find.

Lets face it when it comes to FA BB isn't the strongest GM out there. Sure he finds some nice contributors for low cost every so often but he goes through 20 players and millions upon millions in dead money to get those handful of players most of the time. His system works well to stay competitive and not completely wreck the team with bad signings, instead relying on the draft but it also means you never tend to find the top end talent to push you over the top either. And if you don't have great drafts (07-09) you team tends to get stuck badly. Boldin (in 10') is a prime example of a mid level move that could have helped the team. The Pats had a great chance to get him before Balt did and not many would argue that Boldin didn't help Balt beat the Pats this past year. Not a huge flashy big name but for a 3rd and 4th, BB has traded away more for bigger risks in Ocho and Haynesworth. Just look at the mid round picks BB has traded away for players that never perform on the team. He hit big with Moss, Welker, and did decently with Dillion (picks traded vs time on team) but for the most part his FA trades and signings haven't been stellar. I know he's been burnt with Thomas and even Colvin didn't give as much as his contract paid but they still gave decent production and were starters. I don't think you need to sign every big name FA out there or any actually, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't give up a little of the quantity to add better quality either